Tim Clancy was delighted with the way his St Patrick's Athletic side responded to their first-half setback on Thursday as they earned a 1-1 draw against NS Mura in the Europa Conference League second qualifying round on Thursday and feels his side will now go into the second leg full of confidence.
The result, which was secured thanks to Chris Forrester's equaliser on the hour mark, sets up an intriguing second leg in Slovenia next Thursday against a club which picked up a famous win over Tottenham Hotspur in last season's group stages.
"First off I'm proud we got back into the tie the way we did," Clancy told RTÉ Sport.
"We conceded a really poor goal with a mistake on our behalf which gives them something to hold onto.
"They're a very good team and I think how we reacted to the goal and going behind was excellent.
"And we get a good goal through Chris. It's a great throw-in by Barry (Cotter) into Eoin Doyle. Eoin holds the centre-half off, lovely little lay-off and Chris has a great finish and it gets us back to a 1-1 and after that then you can see that we were pushing. Probably on the balance of it, we did deserve to go over there with a lead.
"But listen, we're going over there all square and we're hoping to get a good result over there and go through."
Clancy added that the way his side were "brave" in possession was a particular highlight and that they could well have forged a valuable first-leg advantage had they been a "little bit more clinical".
"I'm really pleased with how everyone performed tonight," he said.
Clancy also praised the willingness of full-backs Anto Breslin and Barry Cotter to get forward, lauding the latter who has just arrived on loan from SSE Airtricity League leaders Shamrock Rovers.
"I was really pleased with Barry. He's athletically very good and he's got a lot of very physical attributes that is natural to him and a lot of players don't possess them so it was one of them ones where it was brilliant to get him in and you could see that he's going to be a very exciting player for the fans to watch.
"The more games Barry plays, the better he'll be and more he'll improve."
Aside from the visitors' goal scored by Mirlind Daku on 28 minutes, the other setback for the Saints was a red card for Mark Doyle in stoppage time after clashing with Mura defender Klemen Pucko.
"I didn't see it but I've had word from a replay that it's very harsh," Clancy said of the decision, adding that if replays show that it was indeed harsh, St Pat's "will appeal it and hopefully have Mark available for the second leg".
Watch every match from Euro 2022 with RTÉ Sport. Live television and streaming on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player with news and live updates on RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport
